"They hung around and played well defensively. Roloson played real well for them. He made saves," Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom said. "They just waited for their opportunities and it paid off for them in the end."

Tatar tied it at 3 with 9:42 left, scoring his first NHL goal in his first game. He tipped in Helm's shot.

Filppula pulled Detroit to 3-2 with 8 seconds left in the second period. He knocked a loose puck out of the air with his glove and put it into an empty net for his ninth goal.

Joensuu's third goal of the season gave the Islanders a 3-1 lead with 4:47 left in the middle period. He tipped a shot out of the air.

The Islanders first three goals were all directly off of clean faceoff wins in the Red Wings' zone.

"We came out and had the puck a lot of the night, they won three face-offs in our zone and, whether they be seeing-eye pucks or whatever, they found a way to score on those opportunities," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said.

Zenon Konopka won the faceoff that led to Joensuu's goal as well as the one that gave New York a 2-1 lead with three seconds left in the first period, despite being outshot 12-3.

After Zonopka beat Justin Abdelkader on the draw, Tavares gave the Islanders the lead when his backhander from the inside edge of the left circle got through Howard's pads. Tavares has 11 goals.

"When it's 1-1 after you've been outshot like that, you know something good is going to happen," Parenteau said.

The faceoff was the result of an icing call with less than 6 seconds left in the period when Brad Stuart's attempted pass from his own zone was too far ahead of Lidstrom.

"We want to be a little bit better at the end of periods," Stuart said.

Franzen opened the scoring with 8:08 left in the opening period with his 17th goal. His one-timer from the bottom of the right circle trickled through Roloson's pads.

New York scored a power-play goal on its first shot of the game, with 6:38 left in the first. It came 5 seconds after Todd Bertuzzi went off for goalie interference. Moulson was credited with the goal when Lidstrom accidentally knocked the puck into his own net. It was Moulson's 12th goal.

NOTES: The Islanders are 4-0-1 in their last five against the Red Wings. ... Detroit RW Patrick Eaves missed the game because of an upper-body injury. Tatar was recalled from the Red Wings' AHL affiliate in Grand Rapids to take Eaves' place. ... Islanders' D Radek Martinek missed his fifth game because of a wrist injury. ... There was a video tribute to Red Wings G Chris Osgood during a play stoppage in the first period in honor of his 400th career win Monday night. Osgood, backing up Howard, came out on the ice to acknowledge the crowd's standing ovation.